This is an absolutely fascinating vintage Rolex ad, which I believe is from the 1950s. It pays homage to Abraham-Loius Perrelet and discusses how Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex was inspired to perfect Abraham-Louis Perrelet's automatic movement.

This Rolex ad says:

"As simple as it was hard to find, the Rolex 'Rotor' the invention that solved the self-winding problem, owes its existence to the inspiration of Mr. Hans Wilsdorf of the Rolex Watch Company, and his brilliant technical Chief-Director M. Emil Borer."

This is a significant historical piece of the Rolex history puzzle, because nobody ever knew who M. Emil Borer was, since his name appeared on the Rolex patent application, but nobody knew who he was.

It is fascinating to note that Abraham-Louis Perrelet sold several of his watches to a younger watchmaker who happened to have the same first and middle name, Abraham-Loius Breguet.

Breguet, as mentioned in the ad above, attempted to improve upon Perrelet's automatic watches and named his attempted design improvement "Perpetuelles." Perpetual is a French world for automatic. Breguet's "Perpetuelles" were never reliable and he stopped making them in 1800.

Abraham-Loius Breguet was a watchmaker apprentice in Versailles, and during the French Revolution (1789-1792) he went into exile in Geneva, Switzerland, and when he returned to France he became the principal watchmaker of the French Empire. Breguet was a profuse inventor and in particular his innovative improvement of the balance spring was later incorporated into many watches.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Michael is a daily reader of Jake's Rolex World and he recently sent in this email that took my breath away:

Jake:

Just wanted to say THANK YOU for the great job you do on your Rolex blog. I am a loyal follower and find something new every time I go on it.

I'm heading over to Afghanistan late next week for an 11 month deployment, and I'll check it over there everyday too!

I won't have my Rolex Sea-Dweller on my wrist (I'm taking my Dad's Timex for all its great functions and I gave my Dad my Sea-Dweller for him to wear everyday) so your cool photos, awesome posts and great pictures will help me pass the time and get my mind back to two things I love: Rolex and California!

In fact, your blog is so great that I've told my local watchmaker about it (Tom Doan of D's Time Service in San Diego) and he likes to post tweets about it! www.twitter.com/dstimeservice

Hope all is well Jake. And keep up the great work!

Very Respectfully,

Mike

Truth be told, the reason I have always worked so hard on Jake's Rolex World is for three reasons:

1. I realize if I did not capture this amazing Rolex history, it is likely it would be lost forever, and in my mind that would be an absolute shame!!!

2. I love it!!! I love the education I get from researching all the stories. I am utterly fascinated with history and often times I feel like Indiana Jones when I go exploring all this rich history.

3. Last but not least, I work so hard because I know my readers also like the history, photos and editorial as much as I like capturing and sharing it.

There are times, when a reader writes in, that take my breath away, and Mike I can't thank you enough. Your email not only made my day, but it made the four years I have dedicated to tirelessly working on making this amazing online Rolex archive absolutely worthwhile. Thank you!!!!!!

Dr. Miguel Noyola lives in Mexico and he is a fan of Jake's Rolex World. Recently he took this amazing photo of his Rolex Submariner dial and sent it in to share with you. Click on it for better detail.

Update: Gogi asked in the comments section for this post:

"Why is there no 'ROLEX' inscription on the other edge? Are there Submariners with and without?"

The answer is yes. Around 2005 Rolex started etching "ROLEX ROLEX ROLEX" around the inside rim that houses the dial. This area is know formally as the rehaut area. At the same time Rolex decided to also etch the individual serial number of each watch on the bottom of therehaut area, just above the 6 o'clock marker–prior to that Rolex etched the serial number between the lugs where they were not visible unless you removed the bracelet.

So to specifically answer your question every watch made before Rolex started incorporating this design feature lacks the ROLEX rehaut writing, which is the case with this Submariner case (no pun intended ;-)

Monday, February 21, 2011

My good pal Sheldon Smith is the editor and publisher of Minus4Plus6.com and he just sent me a note to let me know he just put up a superb story that has all the pages from a 1985 Rolex Talking Points Brochure. A Rolex "Talking Points" brochure is published by Rolex and it is for the sales people to educate them about the Rolex brand. You can see all the pages from this fascinating 1985 Rolex Talking Points, but be pre-warned, you will have a hard time not clicking on each page and reading it carefully.

Sheldon, profoundly points out:

"Although this particular Talking Points brochure was printed in 1985, much of the details revealed are still relevant today."

A few weeks ago we saw the second photo in this post of Danish Crown Prince Frederick and it appeared he was wearing a Rolex LV 50th Anniversary, but it was hard to see the color of the bezel which almost looked black.

Morten Olesen lives in Denmark and he is a daily reader of Jake's Rolex World and he just sent in this image from the Danish Newspaper named Ekstra Bladet and the image confirms it is an LV. Morten also said he knew that Prince Frederik received a Two-Tone Rolex Submariner with a black bezel an dial on his 18th birthday, so he might be a Rolay Collector :-)

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The International Harvester Scout was introduced in 1961 at the first competitor to Jeep. To this day it is considered a classic piece of automotive history. Anybody miss Flipper Friday? Doesn't the mom in the car look like Nancy Reagan?

It's amazing, if you think about it, how much cars have evolved in the last 50 years!!! While the Scout looked cool, it is incredible how unsafe it was. It does not even appear to have seat belts, not to mention zero roll-over protection?

Friday, February 11, 2011

This is an ultra-rare (Milsub) Military Submariner, and to the best of my knowledge, it is the first Single-Red Rolex Submariner. Single-Red referring to the red depth rating located on the lower part of the dial. This watch also has the rare Big Winding Crown as well as the 3-6-9 Explorer dial, and the red upside-down pyramid at the top of the bezel insert.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

I was recently a guest on the HourTime Podcast and was interviewed by my pal, Ariel Adams and his co-host, John Biggs. Ariel Adams is a fellow blogger and he publishes the fascinating A Blog To Read, and John Biggs is the Editor and Publisher of CrunchGear.com. We spoke about the history of Rolex. To listen to the podcast you can click here.

I figured since we saw the Superbowl yesterday, it would make sense to take a look at Jimmy Johnson, who had an amazing career as college football player as well as being the Coach for the Dallas Cowboys, which he brought to victory in by winning back-to-back Superbowl titles in 1992 and 1993.

Monday, February 7, 2011

The screenshots in this post are from the movie named HOME, which is the most hauntingly beautiful masterpiece movies I have ever seen, and it has some of the most stunning videography I have ever seen. You can watch HOME for free on YouTube and I promise it will completely blow your mind...enjoy, and think about it...

I recommend you switch the YouTube player to 720p and play it full screen...

It's that time of the year again and it's almost time for the Superbowl!!! This 2011 Mercedes Superbowl commercial is amazing!!!! Especially, with Janis Joplin singing "Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz" in the background...

It is remarkable how similar Mercedes and Rolex are as brands if you think about it. I often say Rolex is the Mercedes of watches, and it is really cool in this video to see Mercedes playing up their amazing heritage. In recent years Rolex has gotten much more into playing up their heritage, and I believe Rolex should delve much deeper into showcasing their amazingly wealthy heritage as their ultimate marketing vehicle.

IF YOU ENJOY JAKE'S ROLEX WORLD BE CERTAIN TO CHECK OUT JAKE'S OTHER BLOGS:

Contact Jake

INSIDE ROLEX

Historically Rolex has always been extremely secretive and discreet, and no journalists in the past have ever been invited "INSIDE ROLEX" to explore and report on all four Rolex Manufacturing faclities in Switzerland.

In November 2013, this changed when Rolex invited Jake to take an unprecdented journey into the heart of Rolex to learn and report on everything he witnessed and learned.

This Super-Detailed 3 Part Story is a "MUST READ" story for anybody who wants to really understand what really makes Rolex tick.

The Hans Wilsdorf Story: Founder Of Rolex

Rolex is one of the most recognizable brands on earth, but very little has been known about its real history. If you really, really want to understand what makes Rolex tick, I very highly recommend you read the fascinating story of Rolex's amazing founder–Hans Wilsdorf.